...An eclectic mix of local Politics, Education, Community Affairs, Environment, History, Birding,Jamaica Bay, Ridgewood Reservoir, Forest Park, and other assorted items of interest...
Concentrating on the Borough of Queens in New York City...and the neighborhoods of Ozone Park, Howard Beach, Woodhaven, Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park...and Community Boards 5, 6, 9 and 10...

Using discreet video cameras, scientists have been able to study the long-term natural behaviour of beavers "at home" in their lodges.

The tiny, waterproof cameras, inserted into beaver dens, show that beavers lead very different private lives when at home than when outside.

At home, the animals are surprisingly co-operative and scientists have even recorded baby beavers growing up.

Kits exhibited multiple sleep wake cycles lasting only a few hours, much like a human infant waking up every few hours during the night - Professor Cy Mott

"Much of what we know about beavers and their use of dens is limited to questions like 'what times of day do they go in and out of the den'", says Cy Mott, a biologist at Kentucky Wesleyan College, in Owensboro, US.

"Simply because, until recently, we haven't had the technology to follow their behavior within the den without potentially disturbing natural behaviour."

So Professor Mott and colleagues, Craig Bloomquist and Clayton Nielsen of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, US, decided to study American beavers ( Castor canadensis ) denning on the Mississippi flood plain in south-western Illinois.

Beavers in this region declined drastically in the 19th and 20th Centuries, but have since recovered due to a ban on hunting them for their pelts.

The researchers used special "probe" cameras that do not disturb the beavers to record the animals' behavior in 23 colonies over the course of more than a year.

Beavers make sophisticated homes, either in dens burrowed into river banks, or more complex lodges.

Lodges are essentially dens built from wooden branches that are surrounded by water, the level of which beavers help maintain by also building wooden dams.

Video taken of beavers within 17 lodges and six bank dens revealed some surprising behaviours.

Living in their elaborate shelters, beavers were thought to be cut off from the outside environment.

But the video study shows that they exhibit regular patterns of behaviour, leaving to feed at roughly the same time every day, for example.

"This suggests that they may not be as cut off from the external environment as we think they are," says Professor Mott.

Male and female beavers appear to take equal responsibility for raising their babies, known as kits, perhaps because the young are so "high maintenance".

In the privacy of their own home, beavers also spend 95% of their time feeding, sleeping, and grooming.

"It supports the assumption that the relative security of the den is a place where they can exhibit behaviors that would be potentially dangerous outside of dens," says Professor Mott.

Baby Sleep

Another surprise relates to the private lives of baby beavers, and their sleeping patterns.

Baby beavers, and adults, follow a similar sleep schedule to humans, the researchers report in the journal Mammalian Biology.

Adults beavers tended to sleep at a similar time, though not all the adults fall asleep at once, perhaps to ensure the babies are looked after.

"Kits, on the other hand, exhibited multiple sleep wake cycles throughout the day and night, with each interval lasting only a few hours, much like a human infant waking up every few hours during the night," says Prof Mott.

Finally, "given that beavers are in incredibly close confines within dens, we fully expected to document aggressive behaviours," he explains.

Most social animals that live in close-knit groups tend to use aggression to establish a "pecking order" between individuals.

But "one of the most interesting things we didn't find was aggression within beaver colonies," Prof Mott told the BBC.

The researchers know of only two previous studies that attempt to explain what happens within a den, despite the fact that beavers spent considerable portions of their lives in these structures.

In one study, scientists cut away one side of a lodge to view the beavers directly via a glass panel, which likely disturbed the animals' natural behavior.

The other study consisted of a researcher "listening in" while outside the lodge, in an attempt to describe what was happening inside.

"To our knowledge, our study is the first to use long-term video data to follow behavior for months at a time, over successive years, and even during the period from birth of beaver kits until they disperse to find territories of their own," says Professor Mott.

The letter below was sent today by Public Advocate Bill de Blasio to Mayor Michael Bloomberg and heads of City agencies and departments involved in the response to the recent snow storm:

December 28, 2010

Dear Mayor Michael Bloomberg:

I am writing to express concern and seek answers about the City’s response to this past Sunday’s snow storm. My office has become aware of concerns voiced by New Yorkers who are unable to leave their homes or immediate vicinity as a result of unplowed roads and public walkways. It has become evident that the outer boroughs have been disproportionately affected by the lack of plowing after Sunday’s snow storm.

The storm on Sunday was severe and although the City is working feverishly now to clear the streets, I believe that the City could have taken a more precautionary approach. I am concerned that the City did not take the necessary steps to help minimize the disruptions to transportation, sanitation, and emergency services.

Additionally, I think the City should have made more decisive steps to keep drivers off the roadways and prevent so many abandoned vehicles from obstructing the City’s snowplows. With more winter storms ahead, it is imperative that we learn from our experiences to better prepare ourselves for future storms and natural disasters.

To better understand how the City handled this Sunday’s severe storm, I request the following data from the Office of Emergency Management (“Office”), the Department of Sanitation (“Department”), and call information from 311 and 911. This data will be a key tool in evaluating what steps need to be taken in the future during severe storms.

Office of Emergency Management

The Office of Emergency Management is responsible for helping New York City plan and prepares for emergencies, as well as coordinates for a timely response and recovery. I have several questions regarding the Office’s preparation for Sunday’s storm.

·It is my understanding that the Office decided against declaring Sunday’s storm a Snow Emergency, which would have moved cars from the arterial roadways essential to moving emergency vehicles. Please explain the rationale behind this decision.·What is the protocol for declaring a Snow Emergency? What factors are considered? Who declares a Snow Emergency and how is this declaration reviewed?·Besides implementing a Snow Emergency plan, what other tools are at the City’s disposal to quickly remove cars off the street so that they do not block emergency services or snow plows?·What alerts did the Office have in place for motorists prior to Sunday’s storm that would have informed them about the storm and alternate parking options?·Based on news reports, snow banks caused serious obstacles for emergency services vehicles trying to access individuals in need of medical attention. What measures were taken to pair sanitation workers who were operating plows with emergency service vehicles?

Department of Sanitation

I have several questions about the process the Department of Sanitation undertook to ensure that streets were being plowed in a timely fashion.

·Understanding that the Department is experiencing a hiring freeze, please provide details about the Department’s current staffing levels as they relate to snow clearance. What positions at the Department are responsible for clearing the streets during snow storms? If these staffing levels are divided by borough, please provide my office with the information by borough.·Please provide a description of how the Department responded to specific requests for assistance from 311 and my office between Sunday, December 26th and Tuesday, December 28th. On what timeframe were those forwarded complaints addressed? Through what process were those complaints incorporated into the Department’s snow clearance activities?·Please provide my office with detailed timelines regarding the plowing of primary, secondary and tertiary streets for each borough following the storm.·Please provide my office with a detailed budget that shows how snow removal resources are allocated by borough.·Based on a Wall Street Journal article, Jason Post, a spokesperson for the Mayor stated that administrative workers were being employed for field work. How were these individuals trained and prepared for snow clearance?

311

My office has received hundreds of calls from constituents regarding the snow storm and many of them are being placed on hold for long periods of time when they contact 311. To that end, I have several questions about the handling of calls regarding the storm.

·Please provide my office with a detailed call summary related to the storm from Sunday, December 26, 2010 until Sunday, January 2, 2010.·What was the average wait time for calls during the snow storm and what is the wait time normally?·Please provide my office with details on how 311 queued snow storm calls and made referrals to other agencies.·Did 311 issue complaint numbers to each individual caller?·Please provide information about 311’s backlog of calls regarding the storm.

911

From my understanding there is a review taking place regarding the processing of 911 calls. Please provide my office with the scope of this review and the methodology being used.

Thank you and I look forward to your timely response. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Public Advocate catalogs almost 1,000 complaints, 33 pages of transcripts from calls and emails

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio today released a report detailing 933 complaints compiled by his Office following the snow storm. The calls and emails detailed by the report point to a city in crisis, with New Yorkers unable to connect with operators at 311 and stranded beyond the reach of emergency services."For days, City government failed to provide the most fundamental services. People couldn't get a human being on the other end of the line at 311. Ambulances and fire trucks couldn't reach those in need. Hundreds of frustrated and scared New Yorkers turned to our office for help," said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. "From what we heard, it's clear the City needs a new playbook to stay ahead of big storms."The report catalogues 933 complaints fielded between 9am on Monday, December 27th and 5pm on Wednesday, December 29th. There were received via phone, email and Facebook, in addition to records from two City Council Members. The report shows:

39% of total complaints came from South Brooklyn.

69% of all complaints were lodged on Tuesday, when New Yorker awoke to unplowed streets for the second day in a row.

18% of all complaints involved abandoned vehicles blocking streets.

The full report is available at:http://www.advocate.nyc.gov/sites/advocate.nyc.gov/files/stormreport.pdfThe report includes 33 pages of transcripts from constituent phone calls and emails, reflecting the experiences of hundreds of New Yorkers, including:"It’s already Tuesday afternoon, I need to take my child to the doctor, she has fever, and my car is still trapped and the entire block hasn't seen a single plow truck since the blizzard began on Sunday, and my block is a bus route also, this is crazy, and we’re all trapped indoors, please let me know if there’s any help in sight. Thanks.""I'm disabled and I can't get off my block — walking, cab or otherwise."

"It is 48 hours after storm and we still have not seen a plow ... WHY????""No plows and/or salters have been thru this block. Access-A-Ride & other vehicles cannot get thru to get people to dialysis centers."While a thorough review of the City’s storm response is necessary, the Public Advocate’s report makes the following urgent and immediate recommendations:

When plowing, prioritize emergency services and hospitals, many of which were blocked until Wednesday.

Work with off-street parking facilities to allow City residents to park while streets are being plowed during major snow events.

What a surprise another ripoff of taxpayer ca$h by Big Business...Just like Bloomberg's CityTime blunder...

What a laugh, the US Govt. has made a complete joke of this. Building a fence has cost more than anyone imagined, and the cost overruns are out of control. Big surprise. Boeing turned this into yet another case of corporate welfare.

It starts with Goldsmith, the hotshot former mayor of Indianapolis who made a name for himself as a "reinventor" of government. His big secret was laying off gobs of city workers and privatizing every service he could.

Bloomberg named Goldsmith his top deputy in April and has handed him enormous power to do the same thing here.

The blizzard was the new deputy's first big test - and he flunked.

To begin with, Goldsmith and Bloomberg refused to declare a snow emergency, even after they learned a blizzard was on the way.

"I started getting text messages from ambulance drivers at 3 a.m. Monday that they were stuck in the snow," said Pat Bahnken, president of the EMS workers' union. "I urged the Fire Department to declare a snow emergency, but they were told City Hall said 'no.'"

Back in 1996, a similar monster storm struck our city. It dumped 20 inches, closed airports, and left drifts 20-feet high.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani not only declared a snow emergency and ordered all nonessential vehicles off the road, he took 3,300 city buses out of service so they wouldn't block sanitation trucks and rescue vehicles.

Giuliani also asked then-Gov. George Pataki for help. Pataki dispatched 400 national guardsmen with 100 Humvees that were used as ambulances to transport medical supplies and health workers.

If Bloomberg and Goldsmith had done the same, we wouldn't have had hundreds of stuck buses and ambulances blocking main arteries.

"Under Rudy, every snowstorm was considered a big deal," one former Giuliani official said. "All commissioners and top staffers were expected to be at the command center and we all worked hard together."

This time, Goldsmith was out of town and didn't even show up at the command center until Monday. A City Hall spokesman wouldn't say where he was.

The Sanitation Department has been Goldsmith's special target since he arrived in town.

"He micromanages everything in this department," is how one official put it.

Goldsmith is determined to cut the number of sanitation workers and use more private contractors for snow removal - something Doherty has resisted.

The staff reductions and the deputy mayor's scheduled demotion of 100 sanitation supervisors in January - putting them back in sanitation trucks and cutting the pay of many of them - has led to growing tension and made Goldsmith a hated figure in the department.

Those supervisors normally check that city trucks and private contractors do their routes properly. In some cases, some angry workers appear to have slowed down their work during the storm.

City Hall appeared yesterday to recognize the problem and may be backtracking on some of those demotions, several sources say.

Held City Council Hearing Back in 2008; Warnings Were There Years Earlier

NYS Senator Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr. (D-Queens) released the following statement in reaction to the erupting scandal involving New York City’s use of CityTime, the automated payroll system used since 1998 for the city’s employees. The Senator, who questioned the system as a City Councilman back in 2005 and held public hearings on it in 2008, also provided a timeline of events:

"Back in 2008 when I was still serving on the New York City Council as Chair of the Civil Service and Labor Committee, I had a public hearing at which other elected officials, labor leaders and city workers grilled Office of Payroll Administration (OPA) officials about the CityTime program’s cost, duration and efficiency. The CityTime system was then 10 years old, and OPA thought it would save the city $60 million a year by this new method of tracking city workers’ time and attendance using a new payroll system that was supposed to move city employees from paper to computer timesheets by 2004 for a $63 million cost,” Addabbo stated.

Addabbo went on to explain that as costs rose, Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Office of Management and Budget wanted a review and ordered agency heads to monitor CityTime closely, because it was running over budget, though no one then alleged any fraud. In April 2008, CityTime was shown to be a $410 million project, which the Daily News investigated, raising questions in a series of newspaper articles. The mayor called the system “far more complex” an operation than was anticipated. In May 2008, Addabbo held a committee hearing responding to municipal unions’ complaints that it wasn’t worth the cost and their questioning how lead contractors SAIC and Spherion were hired. At the same time, the Department of Investigations (DOI) was sent a detailed complaint. That December, newspaper reports focused on bloated payments to CityTime consultants, and Councilwoman Letitia James (WFP-Brooklyn) co-chaired with Addabbo another public hearing.

The mayor finally admitted CityTime was “a disaster” in March 2010. Six months later, NYC Comptroller John Liu’s scathing audit of CityTime found seven years’ worth of reports from CityTime’s quality assurance contractor were missing, from January 2001 to May 2008. The project was running amok, so Bloomberg assigned Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith to give it “high-level attention”. DOI began its secret criminal probe after another CityTime consultant told the agency about billing irregularities. The probe discovered shady shell companies and foreign bank accounts. The secretary for Local 375, a union for architects and engineers who objected to CityTime in 2005, said the city had failed to keep tabs on its expensive consultants, calling the electronic system “an incredible waste of taxpayers’ money” and calling for a review of that contract and every other contract out there.

“Here we are at year-end 2010, with Bloomberg saying multi-millions ‘slipped through the cracks’, Daily News investigative reporter Juan Gonzalez saying CityTime is ‘still eating up city money’, and the warning signs were there for years. Only now have arrests finally been made after the scandal broke and revealed the names of the corrupt consultants who masterminded an $80 million scam through phony billing and kickbacks,” Addabbo continued. The director of the city agency with oversight of the project was suspended without pay and DOI has seized bank accounts and $850,000 in cash from safe-deposit boxes.

“In 2008, while facing a looming city budget deficit of $4 billion, I wondered if we were at a point after a decade of using CityTime, whether we were throwing good money at a bad program. Because of the inflated cost and undetermined duration, I called for at minimum, a halt on payments and work under the contract,” said Addabbo. The then City Council Member believed that there was enough evidence, inefficiency and questionable facts to justify further investigation, and while being investigated, to have a moratorium. Now, the State Senator asks, “I wonder what we could have done with the millions of dollars wasted if the Mayor’s Administration had only realized it back in 2005 when we first raised the issue about CityTime, and possibly could have prevented hurting employees, making education cuts and closing firehouses.”

A brief video offering an insider's glimpse into the training provided to individuals and nonprofits that participate in United Way's BoardServeNYC initiative.

Every day thousands of nonprofits throughout the five boroughs make our city a better place to live and work. Whether delivering health and human services, celebrating arts and culture, promoting social justice, or protecting the environment, every nonprofit needs talented and committed volunteers to serve on its Board of Directors.

In recognition of the vital role that board members play in supporting the work of local nonprofits, United Way of New York City, in partnership with NYC Service, offers BoardServeNYC, which connects nonprofit organizations with a pool of prospective board candidates who are passionate about volunteering and are ready, willing and able to serve.

The BoardServeNYC program includes intensive governance training (for both individuals seeking to serve and nonprofits) in board roles and responsibilities, and board recruitment among other issues. Professionals from all sectors - corporations, government, universities, etc. - are encouraged to apply and attend our trainings. Participation in BoardServeNYC is free for nonprofits in all boroughs of NYC.

We seek to help nonprofits by giving them an essential tool: good governance on a strong board of directors. BoardServeNYC has made over 180 confirmed matches in only a year, and hopes to continue serving our community by offering this essential program to a growing pool of nonprofits. More information is available at www.BoardServeNYC.org.

Mayor Bloomberg's pick to run the city schools got the OK from an Albany court Wednesday after a group of parents and politicians sued over her lack of credentials.

The parents argued that state education commissioner David Steiner broke the law when he granted Black a waiver to be chancellor.

"The appointment of someone who appears to require on-the-job training ... will just further erode the ability of the education system to adequately prepare our children for the challenges of the 21st century," said Brooklyn Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, a plaintiff.

On Wednesday, December 29, Judge Gerald Connolly of the Albany County Supreme Court denied the petitions submitted on behalf of 13 parent Petitioners and one teacher challenging New York State Education Commissioner David Steiner’s waiver of employment requirements for Cathleen Black so she could assume the office of Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education.

The Petitioners, including New York State Assembly Member Hakeem Jeffries (D-57) and members of the Deny Waiver Coalition, contend that Ms. Black does not have the qualifications necessary under New York State law to oversee the educational system that serves their children and, furthermore, that Commissioner Steiner misinterpreted State law and exceeded his authority in granting the waiver to Ms. Black.

Attorney Norman Siegel, representing the 14 Petitioners, stated the following: “We are disappointed with the Court’s decision. We believed that there would be a different outcome and that Ms. Black’s waiver would not be allowed to stand. I will be consulting with the parents and teacher to determine their next step.”

Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, a parent Petitioner, said, “The decision by Judge Connolly is extremely disappointing but we will not throw in the towel with respect to the effort to improve our public schools system. Cathie Black remains unqualified to be chancellor. We will make a determination about whether to appeal shortly.”

Parent Petitioner Mona Davids said, “I am disappointed in Judge Connolly’s decision but not surprised. The decision to grant a waiver to Black who is clearly unqualified shows our children that it’s not what you know but who you know. The appointment of unqualified Black has served as a catalyst to mobilize parents throughout the city to fight for a quality education for our children.”

Noah E. Gotbaum, parent Petitioner, stated, “This case is just the beginning of the movement of parents and educators to fight for our 1.1 million kids and to stand up against the current business model of education and its constituency of out-of-touch billionaires.”

Teacher Petitioner Julie Cavanagh was unhappy with the decision. “I am saddened by the decision handed down today, but I am inspired by the brave parents, educators and citizens who stood up and fought for justice and for their voice to be heard. I stand firm in the beliefs held by the Deny Waiver Coalition; our children deserve a qualified Chancellor with the education credentials the law requires.”

Parent Petitioner Patricia Connelly said, “While I am profoundly disappointed with today’s decision by Judge Connolly, I for one am not ready to let this illegal and immoral waiver stand. I join my fellow petitioners in demanding that the public be restored to our rightful place at the table in protecting and promoting a truly democratic public education system here in New York City.”

Parent Petitioner Shino Tanikawa, said, “I am deeply disappointed and puzzled by Judge Connolly’s decision. However, I am, along with the others, determined to continue fighting for what is right.”

Chris Owens, a parent Petitioner, expressed his frustration with the perspective of Commissioner Steiner and the Court. “Unfortunately, this judge ignored the true intent of the Education Law – to protect the quality and integrity of education management in New York State. Given the current state of our streets, I am uncomfortable with someone who only has management credentials handling this City’s education storm and the future of my two sons.”

Ms. Black was nominated by Mayor Bloomberg on November 9, 2010 to succeed outgoing Chancellor Joel Klein. Commissioner Steiner granted the waiver on November 29.

Attorneys Norman Siegel and Herbert Teitelbaum, representing the 14 Petitioners, were joined by attorneys Roger Wareham and Eric Snyder, each representing additional New York City public school parents who are also challenging the Steiner waiver. Three separate Article 78 petitions challenging the waiver had been filed and were consolidated during the court hearing.

One Queens neighborhood was not only still buried in knee-deep snow drifts Wednesday, but had lost phone service because of phone lines toppled by the wind, Derricke Dennis reports.

Arlene Krasowsky, 69, of Ozone Park was afraid of what could happen. Her husband’s in the hospital. “And if it wasn’t for a neighbor with a cell phone, I got no way to call for help in here,” she said. “If something happens to my husband, what’ll happen?”

On Wednesday, the area saw its first plow in three days. Con Ed arrived on the scene to fix one set of lines, and Verizon came to work on another set.

Then there’s a sewer truck, dispatched on a broken water main, that ended up stranded in the snow.

Resident Philip Russo doesn’t even want to talk about it. “Why am I gonna talk to you?” he joked with Dennis. “What are you do for me? You clean?”

Russo’s in bad health and so is his wife Frances. They said they’re like prisoners.

“I can’t go out unless its completely clear, because God forbid I slip and fall, and I’m ruined for my life,” she said.

Krasowsky, however, wants to go out, and was asking anyone she can for help. She feared she’ll be out of reach, or stranded in the snow, if anything happens to her husband. “The TV stations are a Godsend, because nobody will move without you. Nobody will move without you because they won’t listen to me.”

Technorati

Today.com

all blogs

Amazing Counters

Blogarama

Blogdire

blogging fusion

blog patrol

Blog Top Spots

extreme tracking

Feed nuts

Globe of Blogs

The Good Blogs

ice rocket

StatCounter

FAIR USE NOTICE

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. I have posted it here in an effort to advance the understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific, social justice and other issues. I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. The material in this site is provided for educational and informational purposes only.